“No?” I continued. “Afterward we went to sleep. Carter got a call from dispatch at 6:00 a.m. and left, and my friends came over shortly after that with pastries and we had coffee.”

  The chairman frowned and I smiled at him.

  “I suppose you’re going to argue that my friends are lying, or Carter is lying, and I wasn’t there the entire day and night. That I somehow traveled from Sinful to DC without being spotted at an airport, gas station, or toll road. That I entered a federal prison I’d never set foot in before and managed to do so without clearance or identification. Then I located Kitts’s cell, dispatched however many guards you had assigned to him, killed him, waltzed out unseen, drove back to Sinful, and was sitting in my kitchen ready for breakfast. Does that sound ridiculous enough for you?”

  “You have friends with access to a private jet. You didn’t have to drive.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t. But I also knew what kind of man Kitts was when Carter returned from Iran. If I was going to kill him, it would have been then and from 1,000 meters away. People like Kitts aren’t worth the risk to kill in federal lockup. Not to me. But you have known what Kitts was for years and never once lifted an eyebrow until now. I have to assume that’s because the men and women he used to put all those fancy medals on his uniform weren’t capable of causing you trouble like we are.”

  I leaned forward and looked him directly in the eyes. “Have you even checked toll and interstate cameras or security footage at airports or the flight paths for private planes? I’m guessing not. And the only reason people don’t go looking for evidence in a murder investigation is because they already know who the perpetrator is. Maybe you saw him this morning when you were shaving.”

  The chairman’s face turned red. “You are out of line.”

  “No, what I am is out of patience. Push me as your fall guy on this murder, and I’ll burn you down. And trust me, you’ll never see me coming.”

  The committee members all shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

  “Is that a threat, Ms. Redding?” the chairman asked.

  “I don’t make threats. Consider it a warning. I don’t usually give those, either.”

  “If you’ll just tell us what we want to know, then this committee is happy to let you all return to your lives.”

  I rose from my chair, done with this sham of an investigation.

  “If you think threatening me and my friends is going to get you a kernel of information on Dwight Redding, you’re grasping at straws. Every one of you sitting behind that table probably knows more about the man than I do.”

  I pointed a finger at him. “You knew what Kitts was doing. Knew and did nothing. That puts the blood of every soldier who died serving under him on you. The man sent mercenaries to my home to kill me in my sleep, and the only thing you can find to worry about is a ghost? Who, as far as I know, never betrayed this country or the men serving it. I want you to think very carefully about the next thing you say to me. The only words coming out of your mouth should be thank you, because I spent my entire career cleaning up messes made by people like you.”

  I turned and started walking away.

  “We’re not done questioning you.”

  I didn’t even turn around until I got back to my seat. “But I’m done answering. If you want to pursue me, go for it. But the story I have to tell will be immediately distributed to every major news outlet in the world. And if I or any of my friends should meet with an unfortunate death, same result. So I suggest you all get to praying that we live long, happy lives and die from natural causes.”

  “Are you threatening this committee again?”

  “Don’t have to. I’m holding all the cards.”

  Everyone stood, and Alexander grinned as he walked to the table and started handing documents down the line.

  “What’s this?” the chairman asked.

  “You’ve been served,” Alexander said cheerfully. “It’s a class action lawsuit on behalf of the injured and fallen soldiers who served under Kitts. I only have sixty on my list now, but it’s early days. It’s interesting how they all have similar stories of questionable decisions made up the line. I suggest you review their statements and the price for their silence very carefully. Unless the rest of you want to go under the microscope alongside Kitts.”

  The chairman flung the papers onto the ground and glared at Alexander. “I’m ashamed that you’re now serving the wrong side of things.”

  Alexander gave him a huge smile. “As always, I’m serving truth and honor. I find it distasteful that the most horrific of crimes were committed not by the enemy but by a decorated officer, and against his own men. I find it even more distasteful that it’s not even the first time it’s happened. What I don’t find remotely surprising is that a group of politicians is attempting to shift blame and cover it up to save your own uncalloused lily-white skin. You’ve never spent a night of your lives sleeping on anything but designer sheets. Those men Kitts sent to their death were just as expendable to you as they were to him. You allowed a serial killer to not only occupy a commanding position but be decorated for it. Good luck with reelection.”

  The chairman’s face turned beet red, and he jumped up and started yelling, but we no longer cared. We simply gathered our things and walked silently out of the room as he raged. We’d said our piece and as far as I was concerned, that was the end of it. Dealing with the fallout from Kitts was their problem.

  Chapter Two

  Our flight back to Louisiana didn’t leave until the next morning, but no one was in a jovial mood, so we all elected to head back to the hotel and order room service. Carter and I ate our dinner on the tiny balcony that looked out over the city, neither of us speaking the entire time. When we’d finished our meals and the plates were stacked inside on the tray, we sat out there again with glasses of wine.

  “Do you miss it?” he asked, waving a hand toward the city.

  “No.”

  “Not at all?”

  “Not at all. This was never home. This was where I lived when I wasn’t working. I could have been in a condo in Denver or a basement unit in the Bronx. It wouldn’t have mattered. The only thing important to me then was what I did after I walked out my front door.”

  “So a fishing cabin on Number Two would have been perfectly fine.”

  “Well, travel is a problem, even to just the grocery store, so no. But the isolation would work fine for me. And the lack of people. I’d have to have a heck of a room deodorizer, though.”

  He smiled and for the first time in a long time, he didn’t look as if he was forcing it. “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “That I don’t want to ever live in the city again or that I don’t want to live on Number Two?”

  “Both.”

  I stared out at the city lights and sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing, really. I was just thinking that people used to say that when you were high up, the city lights looked like a million stars. But now, after being all over the world and living in Sinful, I feel sorry for them, because they’ve obviously never lain back and looked at a starry sky in the middle of nowhere. It’s not even close to the same. The city lights are like cheap plastic diamonds compared to the real thing.”

  Carter nodded. “I’m glad I never had to spend too much time in cities. I don’t think I would have liked it.”

  “Why do you think I had no friends except Harrison, no hobbies except shooting guns, and never left my condo unless I had an appointment or a mission?”

  I shifted in my chair to look at him. “You know what the worst part is—I actually liked my life then. Or I thought I did. I thought I was doing what I was supposed to do and that being good at your job was all there was for anyone. I never understood when people talked about ‘work-life balance’ because work was my life, and I saw no imbalance.”

  “It was somewhat the same for me while I was in the Marines—the focus on the job, I mean. But different because I had the advantage over you of growing up in Sinful, so I’d already lived that other side of the coin.”

  He frowned and I knew what he was thinking. I’d been silent for so long, hoping that he worked everything out—giving him the space to do so without providing prompts. His healing needed to come from inside him. Not from external pressure. But now, with everything that had happened, it was time to talk about the elephant in the room.

  “You know your career is above reproach, right?” I asked. “Every order you executed is because you trusted those giving them to be doing so in the best interest of this country and the men and women who served.”

  He nodded slowly, staring out over the city, then he reached over and took my hand in his and locked his eyes on mine.

  “I know you’ve been worried about me,” he said. “And I know you’ve been trying to give me room to sort out everything without pressuring me to ‘forget about it’ or ‘move on’ or all the other things that people didn’t dare say, but I know they were hoping for.”

  “Oh, I definitely want you to do both, but I also know that neither comes easy. Putting pressure on you wouldn’t accomplish anything but pissing you off. And as much as you refuse to believe it, I’m never trying to piss you off.”

  His lips trembled. “Even the time you kicked the mirror off my truck, so I’d be forced to arrest you along with Ally?”

  I laughed. “Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

  “You know I wasn’t really pissed at you, even then. I was angry that I was going to be forced to arrest you on top of already being angry about having to arrest Ally. But I admired what you did. We would have made sure Ally was taken care of—Myrtle would have poisoned my coffee if I hadn’t. But you being there with her was what she needed most. You’re a good friend, Fortune. My best friend.”

  “So what you’re saying is I have leverage… Soooooo, are you going to forget about it and move on?”

  “No. I’m going to move on because it’s time, not because of your assumed leverage. And I’ll admit that Kitts being dead has helped spur that along. Not because I wanted revenge—although I definitely wanted him to answer for his crimes—but because I know he can’t ever abuse the trust of good men and women again. He can’t sacrifice them at the altar of his career.”

  He blew out a breath. “But I will never forget. And I hope and pray that all of this has taught those running our military that no one is above scrutiny. I hope this lawsuit of Alexander’s makes everyone with power take a harder look at what’s really going on. That no one ever gets a pass again because of their length of service and their past accolades.”

  “You know they’re never going to allow that lawsuit to go to trial. They can’t afford to.”

  “I know, but they’ll write fat checks to keep it quiet. And all parties to the lawsuit have already agreed that they’ll only take what they need to put their families back whole. The rest will be used to start a charity to help injured soldiers and their families. Alexander is going to set it all up and said he’ll be tapping the shoulders of every rich person he has dirt on to get donations.”

  “So…everyone he knows?”

  Carter laughed. “Probably. He’s a pretty impressive guy.”

  “I’m glad you think so, because I think when the dust settles, he and Emmaline might just see what those sparks flying between them ignite.”

  Carter’s eyes widened. “What? Jeez, what else have I missed while I was mired in guilt?”

  “Easter in Sinful this year was an Alfred Hitchcock film—Attack of the Holiday Birds,” I joked. “And Good Friday was anything but biblical...except maybe the part where we almost started an exorcism.”

  He shook his head. “Those I remember. But seriously, my mom and Alexander?”

  I nodded. “How do you feel about that? I know you never much liked the guy she met at art class.”

  He shrugged. “That guy was so used car salesman.”

  “Well, since he owned used car dealerships…”

  “I know, but he didn’t seem like a good fit for mom, and obviously he wasn’t since she ditched him. Alexander is different. Hell, I don’t feel that I measure up to being in his company no matter how much time we’ve spent together. The man is very well put together and has moral standards that I’d never associated with an attorney, much less one at his level. I’m not sure I could find better.”

  I smiled. “Me either. I’m glad you approve.”

  His eyes searched mine. “What about you? How are you doing with everything?”

  “You know me. I’m the master of compartmentalization. There was never any peace to be made about what I did with the CIA. I’m sure I was part of individual agendas, but I don’t know about it and don’t want to. It’s not my burden to bear.”

  He nodded. “That’s good, but I meant about your father. I’m sure you realized—probably quicker than all of us—that this entire farce of a hearing was really about them attempting to get something out of you about Dwight.”

  “Given that they walked Harrison through the questions like an overseas customer service rep and clearly only hauled Ida Belle and Gertie in to make me feel threatened, yeah, it was rather obvious. They’re not good at subterfuge. And they never stood a chance against me anyway. CIA assassin versus a bunch of suits? Please.”

  “I wonder if they think your father killed Kitts.”

  “Really?”

  That was one I hadn’t considered, but then, I also had to admit I hadn’t spent a lot of time on Kitts’s death at all, other than to smile about it.

  “It had to be an inside job or someone with connections,” Carter said. “We both know no one could stroll into a federal lockdown facility, avoid the mass of guards that Kitts had, and put a single, silent round through his head without help.”

  “Or without an intimate knowledge of the building and decades of being a ghost. Crap.”

  I blew out a breath. “He probably could have done it, meaning he has the ability. The more I find out about him, the more I realize that all the accolades the CIA gives him are probably just scratching the surface. But the question for me is not if or how, it’s why. Why risk exposure when he’s gone to ridiculous lengths to be a dead man? And why for someone like Kitts?”

  “Because Kitts sent mercenaries to kill his daughter?”

  I sucked in a breath. God, I was horrible at this whole emotional thing. Just when I thought I was getting better, someone pointed out a big gap in my thinking. I’d never considered the personal angle—that my father would risk so much because of me—but maybe I should have. He’d helped us escape in Iran, but I’d assumed he had a connection of some sort with the terrorists who were holding Carter and therefore had knowledge of Carter’s existence there and the ability to infiltrate and aid us in our escape.

  It never occurred to me that he might have been there only because of me.

  “Kitts was already going down,” I said. “I’m not saying I’m sad that he’s dead, but he wasn’t going to stroll away from this one.”

  “But a man like Kitts would still have connections, even behind bars. And he’d have a whole lot of anger and nowhere to put it for the decades he had left to live, locked in a cell. Revenge would have been the inevitable place he came to dwell full time. And a sniper across the bank from your home could pick you off in the hot tub. We both know that if someone wants you dead, they’ll eventually get you. Kitts’s mistake was sending men who got within striking distance of you.”

  “I’m glad it was Kitts plotting my elimination and not you. But Kitts would have never gone for the easy kill. He was too arrogant. Too self-absorbed. He wanted me to know it was him behind it all and he wanted me to suffer.”

  “He wanted you to be afraid. But that was never going to happen.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry for everything. You would have never been in that position if it wasn’t for my decision to return for that mission. I should have refused.”

  “You thought your knowledge and experience would make the men safer. You were honorable in your intentions. It’s not on you that the man behind all of it had no honor at all. You know I would have done the same thing.”

  “Maybe then, but now?”

  “Hell, no. The CIA figured it out before me, and they’ll figure it out after me.”

  “I feel the same way. So do you think your father did it—killed Kitts?”

  I shrugged. “I’ve always assumed someone with as much to lose as Kitts took him out before he could bring down the house of cards.”

  He nodded. “I have a feeling there’s more than one name on that list.”

  I stared out at the city and shook my head. “The one thing I’m absolutely certain about is that if my father did do it, no one will ever know but him.”

  Chapter Three

  Two days later, I strolled into the General Store to pick up my grocery order and maybe have a chat with Walter, if he wasn’t busy. The store was empty when I walked inside—and I mean really empty. Walter wasn’t even in sight. I called out and heard a muffled answer from the storeroom, but I couldn’t make out what was said. I figured he’d be out soon, so I slid onto the stool I usually occupied when I took some time to talk and waited.

  A couple minutes later, Walter and Ida Belle came out the storeroom door, both looking rumpled and red-faced. I raised one eyebrow and as Ida Belle started to talk, I lifted one hand.

  “No,” I said, just as she always did to Gertie.

  “Oh good grief!” Ida Belle said. “It wasn’t that! We’re not uncouth like some people. I was trying to help Walter move some boxes back there, but they have proven to be too much, even for the two of us.”

  “I can help,” I said. “Surely the three of us can manage.”

  Walter nodded. “Ida Belle and I only needed another 15 percent and we’d have been there. You’ll be another 80 percent. We could probably throw the boxes across the room.”

  “I don’t think shot-putting your stock is good for business,” Ida Belle said as we headed into the storeroom.

 

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